MONTH OF THE HUCKLEBERRY
VOLUME 14 NUMBER 8
Tribes, FIP agree on fisheries protection; court case dropped
The lawsuit filed against the BIA and the Flathead Irrigation Project by the Tribes earlier this month was dismissed Aug. 12 in federal court in Helena when the parties announced that an agreement had been reached concerning stream flows needed to protect Reservation fish habitat during the current drought
Tribal Council Chairman Joe Felsman
said that negotiations with the federal government and the project's acting engineer since Aug. 1, when a temporary court order was approved, had resulted in a written agreement that calls for water levels in specific areas to be maintained through Oct 31, 1985, and cooperation in the future.
The temporary order requested by the Tribes had asked that the project be managed in a manner that would "first ensure that there are sufficient waters left in certain streams and reservoirs to maintain and preserve the native and wild trout fishery", Felsman said The judge presiding over the preliminary hearing agreed with the Tribes' request and required the project to release impounded water to protect fisheries in the Jocko and Little Bitterroot rivers, and Mission, Post and Crow creeks.
Felsman said the fears of the water districts' Joint Board of Control that the injunction sought by the Tribes was a move to adjudicate water on the Reservation based on a manufactured emergency were "bogus".
"False accusations, such as the one made by the Joint Board's attorney, serve only to alienate Indians and non-Indians on the Reservatioa The Tribes have always maintained that there should be enough water for irrigation and fisheries if FIP were properly managed," he said
"We're very pleased with the agreement" he added "It guarantees the fisheries will be protected throughout the 1985 drought We are also pleased that the U.S. government and FIP have recognized their trust responsibility to honor and protect the Tribes' aboriginal and treaty-guaranteed rights."
Poison Council member to resign
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Teresa Wall McDonald will be resigning her Tribal Council seat this month to take a job with the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Pablo.
Because it would be a conflict of interest for her to work for the federal government and the Tribes, according to the Portland Area Office, she has to resign her Council position before becoming a Bureau employee Sept 3.
How the Poison Indian community would like to handle its sudden loss of representation will be discussed at a
district meeting this evening (Aug. 22), McDonald said
McDonald, 31, became Poison's representative on April 2, 1984, when the Council chose her to replace E.W. "Bill" Morigeau, who was removed from office after more than 30 years on charges of misuse of Tribal funds.
In addition to serving on the Council, McDonald is employed as a researcher for the Tribal Natural Resources Department She will leave both jobs (Continues on page 3)